Keep Bright White Sun Hoodie

Last night I couldn’t sleep. I’m not sure if I had it in mind to get to the city, but I was up all night wanting to go. I even woke up at 4 in the morning and thought about hiking, but decided to try to sleep for at least an hour or so.

Once I woke up, I packed up camp and flew down the trail. I walked faster than the kids for a while, which rarely happens. We only had 13 miles to cruise to Mammoth. At some point along the way we passed 900 miles! The miles in the Sierra feel like they’ve slowed down a bit, so it’s exciting to see this marker and mark another milestone.

I took the side trail to the Horseshoe Lake trailhead where there is a tram every 30 minutes taking people around town. Waiting at the stop right in front of me were Birdman, Dromedary, Bubbles, and Low Main. We asked the woman directing people where to have brunch and she recommended The Stove. We headed to the restaurant and I recognized the sign instantly. This was always the last stop on my family’s Mammoth ski trips. It felt good to be back.

Flash, Jug and Posh Spice met us at the restaurant for a long lunch. We closed the place down and then split up to do a couple of tasks. I decided to head to the much-hyped Mammoth Vons for a little afternoon snack before checking into Airbnb and Oxiclean to try to revive the white of my gray hoodie.

I walked to the park right next to the Airbnb and found a nice shady table to rest and have a snack of watermelon and coconut water. Plus, admittedly, I was glued to my screen catching up on life from the past week and offline.

At exactly 4 pm I received the code to register at the condo. I worked my way through, tried the bean bags, and then texted the group we were in. There are 10 of us who divide this huge condominium. Luckily there are 3 bathrooms and many beds. We put on the World Cup and settled in, rotating shifts in the shower and using the washing machine. I took over one of the sinks to soak my clothes. Even after a couple of hours, the water still sounded brown because of all the dirt. But my white hat and hoodie are shining again! They might even mistake me for a hiker because of how clean I’ll be after this.

There is a brewery next to the condo that had a pretty attractive menu and an open mic night. We met up with some other hikers there and took over the center of the restaurant. It’s a lot of fun to travel in a large group. We closed the restaurant and headed back to the condo to take a quick dip in the jacuzzi and discuss our big plans for tomorrow. There may or may not be a mini golf tournament in the works. Or maybe some kayaking. Or some tennis. We are not sure yet, but many ideas are being considered. Whatever we do, I can’t wait.

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